Whitesbog 9/11--New Feeding Grounds

30+ Great Egrets on Union Pond (with 2 Great Blue Herons)

Yesterday the Whitesbog farmer stopped along the dam to tell me that he was pulling down water out of the Middle Bog and that by this morning it should be just as empty as the Upper Bog, which over the last few days has been very active with shorebirds. So, this morning, just as the sun was a half-circle on the horizon, I was there, ready for another day of compulsively walking around the bogs. 

And there were no birds there. 

All that empty mud. I was amazed and disheartened. I decided to walk around to the east end of the Upper Bog, because I knew that some Great Egrets had been roosting there. And they were, but only 8, way down from yesterday's count of 22. I did come upon a Merlin in a dead tree. I walked around the Upper Bog and then set up my scope on the dam between Union Pond and the Middle Bog. I had heard a Solitary Sandpiper, and on Union Pond there were a few Killdeer, but this was thin gruel for me. And then, after the sun had been up for about a half hour, birds, seemingly out of nowhere, came streaming in to the Middle Bog--Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, both yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers, a Pectoral Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper. None, save two Greater Yellowlegs, went into the Upper Bog.  It isn't possible that the all the invertebrates had been eaten in the Upper, and the mud was still pretty wet, yet almost all the action was concentrated on the newly drained bog. Inexplicable. 

In the center, where the water was a few inches deep, was the usual duck flock, 22 Mallards and the 2 American Black Ducks, but with them were two Green-winged Teal, unusual for the spot. And then, rushing overhead, was a large flock of Great Egrets that first went to the Upper Bog, decided they didn't want to be there either, and swung around to land in the Middle and in Union, before all congregating in Union. I counted 33. Now, anyplace along the coast, 33 Great Egrets would not be remarkable, but inland, in Burlco, that number breaks the eBird filter. Fortunately, egrets are pretty easy to count, unlike skittering, scurrying sandpipers. 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper (best of the lousy pictures)

Eventually, I ditched the scope and took a walk around Union Pond and back into Ditch Meadow (Wood Duck, Ovenbird, another Merlin being highlights) and came back late morning for one more traipse around Middle Bog to see if anything else had come in (or, just as likely, been overlooked). The ducks had flown off and the shorebirds seemed to be more spread out. One looked peculiar, but because I was looking into the sun, it was hard to get much on it. I took a bunch of photos, though distance and bad lighting didn't really help me much. I was pretty certain I knew what it was, but until I got home and could look and my photos, crappy as they were, enlarged on the computer screen, I put down a placeholder for shorebird sp., which I hate, because every bird is something, and the spuh designation doesn't help anyone. 

When I finally looked at the photos, my suspicions were confirmed--Buff-breasted Sandpiper. A couple of other birders, seeing my listing, went there this afternoon and got much better photos than I did. A rarity, but since I had buffy for the year and for Whitesbog, not the kind of rarity I was hoping for. Which is why I'll go back tomorrow morning--you never know who's going to drop in. 

For the morning 39 species:

Wood Duck  1
Mallard  22
American Black Duck  2
Green-winged Teal  2     
Killdeer  7
Semipalmated Plover  12
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  3
Greater Yellowlegs  9
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  1     
Least Sandpiper  5
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  15
Laughing Gull  1     Immature. Middle Bog
Great Egret  33     
Great Blue Heron  6
Osprey  1
Bald Eagle  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  4
Merlin  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
White-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  5
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Gray Catbird  6
Brown Thrasher  1
Song Sparrow  6
Swamp Sparrow  1     Heard
Eastern Towhee  5
Ovenbird  1     
Common Yellowthroat  2
Pine Warbler  5